Domain Executive Editor

Instant appeal: An artist's sketch of the Barangaroo South promenade. By 2020, 23,000 will work at Barangaroo. Photo: Michel O'Sullivan

Buyers who missed out on an apartment at Barangaroo on the weekend are at the front of the queue for the next launch, which will feature apartments with views of the Opera House and Harbour Bridge.

The first 159 waterfront apartments, which had westerly harbour views, sold within 3½ hours on Saturday morning with total sales exceeding $300 million. The two-level four-bedroom penthouse sold within 30 minutes for $10.5 million to an Australian expat in Geneva.

Interest was across the board, with $1 million one-bedders; $2 million two-bedders and $3 million three-bedders all going quickly.

Retail therapy: An artist's impression of shops planned for Barangaroo.

Even the agents were stunned at the success of the launch, which had 6500 registrations of interest in the lead-up. There were unconfirmed rumours that 500 people had paid refundable $10,000 deposits beforehand to try to secure early appointments at the VIP launch.

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''There have been some disappointed people as you can imagine,'' the CBRE Residential chairman, Justin Brown, said.

''But Lend Lease have … offered them an opportunity to be in the next stage and that's shown a lot of goodwill and people have accepted that.''

There are still up to 700 more apartments to come at Barangaroo. The next release is expected within 18 months and industry sources said they could come even sooner because of Saturday's success.

Lend Lease's national sales manager, Ben Christie, said the next lot won't be those in the Packer casino, but in a tower close by.

''There'll be more apartments in the next launch because it's a larger building and some of those apartments will have views of the Opera House and the Harbour Bridge,'' Mr Christie said.

Asked if the success in the first stage meant future prices would be higher, he said: ''There'll be a wider range of pricing, some similar but certainly some will be priced higher because of the views.''

Mr Christie said more than half the buyers were Sydney-based owner occupiers and inquiries were still flowing in.

Lend Lease's Barangaroo South managing director, Andrew Wilson, says the Hungry Mile is set to become Sydney's new ''eat street'' with 85 shops and restaurants.

''About 75 per cent of those outlets will be food and beverage related,'' Mr Wilson said.

The first 30 to 40 of the shops would be open in 2015, coinciding with the completion of the first apartments, the two high-rise commercial towers and the headland park. By 2020, 23,000 people would work at Barangaroo and there would be 2000 residents.